Protesters slam Bradley Manning parade decision

Parade-goers at the San Francisco Pride celebrations won’t see Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army private accused of leaking classified documents to the website WikiLeaks, marching down Market Street in June. But if they passed by SF Pride headquarters on Monday night, they might have seen a horde of Bradley Mannings protesting parade organizers.

Manning had reportedly been chosen as one of several grand marshals and word started getting out about the selection last week. But that was an announcement that parade leaders apparently didn’t sign off on. Most grand marshals are chosen by the Pride Board with community input, but Manning was picked by a group of former grand marshals known as SF Pride’s electoral college.

Following backlash from people opposed to Manning’s WikiLeaks involvement, SF Pride Board President Lisa Williams put out a statement Friday that said Manning was contacted by a rogue staff member who has since been disciplined, and that fewer than 15 former grand marshals voted to support Manning. Williams said “even the hint of support” for Manning’s actions from parade leadership wouldn’t be tolerated because he is accused of putting soldiers’ lives in danger.

“His nomination was a mistake and should never have been allowed to happen,” Williams said in the statement.

But supporters of Manning, who is gay, said in a press release promoting the protest that SF Pride is “turning its back on activism and dissent.” They urged people to print out a Bradley Manning mask and gather outside the SF Pride offices Monday.

“Our message to SF Pride is that they should make Manning a Grand Marshal of this year’s Pride March and Celebration because of his brave act of whistleblowing against the military industrial complex,” said local blogger Michael Petrelis.

Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971, and LGBT military activists who support Manning were expected to address the protesters.

Protest organizer and comedian Lisa Geduldig hit back against arguments that Manning hadn’t done enough for the LGBT community to be a grand marshal.

“He’s an antiwar hero, a whistleblower who is gay,” she said in the statement.“He was lipsynching to Lady Gaga while downloading classified documents. It doesn’t get more gay than that.”

It usually isn’t too difficult to get people at City Hall to open up about topics of the day, but that’s not the case with this controversy. Bevan Dufty, the city’s homeless pointman who is also a grand marshal this year, said he’d pass on commenting. Supervisor David Campos did not return a request for comment and Supervisor Scott Wiener said he intends to stay out of this one.

“Pride has its process and I’m not going to dictate to Pride who their grand marshals should or shouldn’t be, that’s the organization’s decision,” Wiener said.